Philip Roth quote from the New Yorker

[Motley13]

"I found much that was alarming about being a citizen during the 10 years of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. But whatever I may have seen as their limitations of character or intellect, neither was anything like as humanly impoverished as Trump is: ignorant of government, of history, Of science, philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or Nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of 77 words that is better called Jerkish then English."

[Frogg]

1. Bravo

Thanks for the share...

[TexasProgresive]

2. "Jerkish" I like it. n/t

[knightmaar]

25. Presumably a dialect of Gobbledegook

[cpamomfromtexas]

28. Hilarious. Thank you

[yurbud]

29. it's only fault is it's not nasty enough.

[Nitram]

38. Words don't have to be "nasty" to put someone like Dump in his place.

"Humanly Impoverished"

[yurbud]

47. I liked that part.

[flor-de-jasmim]

3. I concur, entirely!

[milestogo]

4. "I have the best words" Jerkish

[gademocrat7]

5. Excellent analysis

[LakeVermilion]

6. Two words: "humanly impoverished"

[Sherman A1]

7. Agreed

That sums it up so well.

[ck4829]

50. +1

[KingCharlemagne]

8. Interesting that Roth skips over Reagan. I blame that old bastard

for making Trump possible.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. So true.

[SticksnStones]

13. I blame Mark Burnett

[IronLionZion]

30. Reagan was bad, W was worse, and Trump is just out of control

it's like they're challenging us to see how much they can get away with.

[csziggy]

34. Reagan could read a script so he didn't come off as bone deep ignorant as Trump

Reagan likely WAS as ignorant, but his handlers made sure he played Mr. President convincingly on television to hide that stupidity.

Trump, on the other hand, has handlers that are as stupid and hateful as he is and many of his handlers are new to politics at the national level. As we've seen they are clumsy and incompetent. A New York Times article yesterday said they have been having meetings in the dark because they can't find the light switches!

Even given their stupidity, we cannot take them lightly - they have the power and have no incentive to control their basest whims.

[Scarsdale]

10. He is perfect.

He fits in perfectly with the gop, dumb as hell. They are getting their agenda passed behind the scenes, while we are puzzling over how much BS we can take from tRump. He is an overblown, overweight empty shell of a man. He gives women a rating on a scale of 1 to 10. Well, on my female rating, he is a MINUS 7.

[LakeArenal]

33. I think you are generous...

[Cosmocat]

11. He is a bit like Nixon

No so much W.

W was an imbecile, but at his heart not a hateful person.

Nixon was a pretty despicable person. Pretty similar to Trump.

BUT, that was a highmark for democracy in our country - the media actually doing it job, and while they did it for political reasons, it was Rs who went to him and told him he had to step down.

The main differences now are that our country has lost its soul, has been co-opted by ever increasingly intense and advanced mind control, and the R party is completely unhinged.

[Motley13]

20. ok eagle eyes, this should keep you busy

I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.

[wincest]

36. interesting post

it took me a while to realize the words were out of order.

[uponit7771]

39. Yes humans mostly read shapes, Credit card companies would put the fine print all in the same shape

... People from reading the stipulations

[Missn-Hitch]

41. Excellent.

[Paladin]

21. My sentiments exactly.

I just thought that Nixon and Dubya were bad---and they most certainly were. But not as bad as the reign of utter ignorance we find ourselves faced with, now. "Humanly impoverished" pretty much captures it.

[mountain grammy]

22. Humanly impoverished!

perfect!

[world wide wally]

23. If someone wan s to play a game, thy my st agree to follow the rules.

Trump is now hinting that he is not willing to do this by fighting against the courts rights to even exist and Congress appears all too willing to not take any action against him because he is just doing their bidding. On top of all that, we have a religious wing nut waiting his turn.

Game over? To

[Missn-Hitch]

43. Yep. Pence is competent too. Damn.

[NewJeffCT]

24. great quotes - for all of his numerous faults

I think W at least knew he wasn't the smartest guy in the room, so relied on Cheney, Powell, Rice, etc

Trump, on the other hand, thinks his shit doesn't stink and that he's smarter than the generals.

[svpadgham]

26. But they are GREAT words.

They are the 77 BEST words. I don't have TIME for those other LOSER words that didn't make the cut. People ask "Donald why don't you use 100 words? It's a nice round number." Well, I say those other 33 words don't need to be there. All of them, well, not all of them, I'm sure there are a few nice ones. MOST of them are probably slang brought over by ILLEGALS. Some of them might be used by ISIS. We can't allow ISLAMIC terrorists to use our words against us so it's best if you just shut up and let me do my job. Sad.

(I am perfectly aware that 77+33=110, and this explanation ruins the joke. I just want to save "that guy" the effort of critiquing my basic math skills.)

[wincest]

37. lol

good impression

[zentrum]

48. Well done. nt

[PatrickforO]

27. Well, this guy's obviously part of the LYING media! Let me give you some

alternative facts...

[dlk]

31. Trump Now Leads the Republican Party

It's not just Trump...

[malaise]

32. Beautiful

Rec

[csziggy]

35. Link to the quote

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/philip-roth-e-mails-on-trump

“I was born in 1933,” starts the paragraph that holds the quote in the OP.

[hibbing]

40. W

I think the idiot son is pretty damn close, he had a lot more establishment types around him to keep him in check and to write everything he said. But this "ignorant of government, of history, Of science, philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety" fits him too imho.


Peace

[niyad]

42. not generallya phillip roth fan, but he nails it here!

jerkish--perfect.

[SunSeeker]

44. Please correct your quote. He said "...Jerkish than English." Not "Jerkish then English."

Kinda hurts the argument when you mangle the English language yourself.

[Fast Walker 52]

45. oh wow, that is so true-- brilliant

[Lanius]

46. Trump, the perfect president for a reality TV-obsessed, anti-intellectual America

" ... ignorant of government, of history, Of science, philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or Nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of 77 words that is better called Jerkish then English."

It's like if you looked up "dumb right-wing American" you'd find a picture of Cheeto Jesus.

[ck4829]

49. K&R